CES Spotlight blog posts shine a light on youth sector programs and initiatives in Ontario that are undertaking an evaluation journey in collaboration with YouthREX’s Customized Evaluation Supports (CES) at one of our regional hubs across Ontario. The blog posts describe the programs and initiatives and how evaluation supports their objectives to improve youth wellbeing.

Charlie’s FreeWheels are a non-profit organization whose vision is to support the development of empowered young leaders, to build on the strengths of the community, and to become a leading resource for youth to engage with cycling issues in Toronto.

MISSIONCharlie’s Free Wheels aims to inspire a spirit of exploration and to mobilize, empower and engage youth using bicycles as a driver for personal growth and positive social change.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMThe Build-a-Bike program teaches bicycle mechanics to youth from Regent Park, Moss Park and St. James Town. The program is free for participants, and gives youth the opportunity to build their own bike by refurbishing a used one. At the end of the program, participants get a new bike, accessories and the necessary skills to safely ride and maintain their bikes.

“My bike will be a motivation in life due to the hard work I put in”

– Past Charlie’s FreeWheels Participant

Charlie’s FreeWheels supports building community relationships as a way to recruit youth for their programming. They also provide bike-building courses for youth in their community.

“I feel like often times they’re (the youth) just like “its awesome” (the program)… for me, I’m most interested in those students who came to one class and didn’t continue, so how to assess their experience. What were the issues of the program? …To get honest responses.”

– Katherine McIlveen-Brown, Executive Director

Why Customized Evaluation Supports?

Charlie’s FreeWheels embarked on their CES journey so that they could be accountable to those they work with, whether it be Pathways to Education or students. They want to know about the experiences of their participants and what these participants gained.

“…we try to teach in a way that supports youth directed and discovery based learning so young people really are the ones that are supposed to be the ones driving their own learning process…So one of the indicators of successful programming would be how many questions they are asking and coming up with their own hypotheses.”